Historically voice telephone calls have been made using the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). This networking environment has been developed over the past hundred years using technologies that have centered on making telephone companies more efficient through better use of existing wire and new fiber optic facilities. With data usage and the advances in packet technology, Internet Protocol Telephony (IPT) is set to become the preferred networking method thus replacing traditional telephone environments.
The driving factors are compelling for both the economic and application value it brings to service providers, businesses and consumers. From a service provider viewpoint, IPT significantly reduces infrastructure and operational costs. These savings may be passed on to the customer and help the provider improve return on investment. From the customers perspective lower costs are an advantage, but perhaps more compelling is the possibility of data and voice integration applications that were not possible with traditional telephony.
Given the value of service provider and customer migration to IPT, it is not surprising that research studies confirm there is pent up demand to transition to IPT. A key assumption supporting this demand is that the fundamentals of reliability and voice quality can be at least consistent with, if not better than, the traditional telephone network. It is likely that customers will only move to IPT if the service levels and voice quality of IPT meet these standards. The traditional providers have set a very high bar for uptime and voice quality, and consumers have come to expect close to perfection. The challenge to the IPT service provider is to raise the bar that was set by matching voice quality and service levels then raise it through enhanced application service offerings.
The current state of IPT testing is focused on network and carrier testing but is wholly inadequate for measuring the customer experience.